Give Me a Try
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. From the "House Call" series. Abby gets asked out on her first date and decides to go. Hunter and Merle decide to spy and Daryl and Beth are just looking forward to a few hours together at home, alone.
1. Chapter 1

**Writing anything for this universe makes me so damn happy. This will be like _Jellyfish_ and will just be a little story. **

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…

"Would you want to go out with me?"

For a moment, Abby Dixon thought he was talking to someone else. Out of curiosity, she even pulled her head from her locker to look around to see who it was. But there was no one there. Just her. And Max Moraine was looking right at her and if she didn't know any better – and she told herself that she probably didn't – she would say he looked nervous.

She couldn't help but frown a little in his direction.

She figured it must be a joke of some kind – funny to him and his friends and everyone, but her. She was more than used to her classmates making fun of her and telling jokes with punch-lines at her expense, but things had gotten considerably better since her best friend, Rebecca "Becks" Conway, had moved to town.

There was something about Becks that just made her instantly to be considered one of the "cool" girls even though Becks showed absolutely no interest in any of them. Maybe that was why they thought she was so cool; her complete indifference to the school hierarchy. Becks was the one to approach Abby after her first day at her new school and came over to the Dixon farmhouse that evening for dinner and since then, the two girls had nearly been inseparable. Abby had never had a friend before – let alone an actual best friend – and she sometimes wasn't too sure what to do; how to act or what to say. There had even been moments of paranoia that perhaps Becks was only her friend as a part of some elaborate joke everyone in her grade was pulling on her.

But Becks had shown her that she is her true friend, her _only_ friend, and that was why Abby was blinking at Max, not understanding what he had just asked her. She had her aids turned on and had heard him just fine. However, it was the actual question that left her confused. With having only one friend – no matter how cool the others might have thought that friend to be – the rest of her classmates still seemed to hardly tolerate her and that was only when they seemed to actually be admitting her actual existence.

No one in her grade besides Becks liked "Feral Abby" and no one certainly asked her if she wanted to go out with them.

When she didn't say anything and just continued to look at him, Max stuffed his hands into the front pouch of his hooded sweatshirt.

"I was thinking we could go get pizza or something," he said. "And then maybe the arcade. Unless that's too loud for you. I know you don't like loud noises," he added quickly. "I know it's Thursday tomorrow, but I just thought since we don't have school on Friday, the pizza place wouldn't be that busy…"

It took Abby another second. Was he asking her out? Actually asking her out? They were thirteen years old. Wasn't that too young to go on a date? She had no idea. Would her parents even let her go? And if she was thinking about what they would say, that must have meant that she was actually _wanting_ to go out with Max Moraine.

… did she?

That was surprising to her. If there were cool girls, there were cool boys, too, in their school and Max definitely fell into that category. He was a football player and there was just something about the way he carried himself. He was confident and comfortable with himself and people seemed to want to be around him in hopes that it would rub off from him onto their own awkward budding teenage self-doubt.

Abby could think of no reason why Max would want to go and eat pizza with her. He had said a couple of his own mean comments in the past directed towards her, but not nearly as many as others had, but still… he hadn't been silent. Abby knew her classmates considered her strange. Not just because she was nearly fully deaf and wore hearing aids and rarely spoke. That didn't make her strange. Her deafness made her different and at their age, being different was just as bad.

She was strange because she wore dresses every day and walked barefoot in the woods and her hair was always down and looked like a wild mane. They called her Feral Abby because she liked to be in the woods than any other place in the world – it was in the Dixon blood – and the kids began thinking that that was where she was born and that was where she lived even though the town was small and everyone knew Daryl and Beth Dixon and they all knew – and were afraid of – her older brothers, Luke and Hunter.

There was no way that Max was asking her out and actually meant it.

"Okay," but she said softly anyway.

"Abby!"

Abby looked past Max's shoulder to see that Becks was coming her way down the hallway. She had stayed behind in class after the bell rang to discuss an upcoming science project with their teacher, Ms. Brandt. Science was both Becks' least favorite and worst subject and she was talking with their teacher to see what the least amount of work on this project she could do to at least earn a C. Becks had asked Abby to wait for her at her locker and of course, Abby had agreed.

Becks didn't even seem to notice Max standing there, looking at Abby, as she walked past him and exhaled a heavy breath, coming to stand at Abby's side.

"You ready?" Becks asked.

Abby was still looking at Max as Max stared at her, but she then slowly moved her eyes away and looked to Becks. She nodded slowly and Becks, still not even noticing Max standing there, looped her arm through Abby's and they headed towards the stairs. Abby did her best to listen to Becks as Becks talked about her plea to Ms. Brandt to just let her grow some crystals and be done with it.

"What are you going to do?" Becks asked as they headed down the stairs and out the front doors of their school. The bell had rung nearly ten minutes earlier and few students were still lingering around.

Abby was so deep in thought though, she admitted that she was hardly listening and Becks thought that maybe, she just didn't hear so she signed the question to her instead.

"How much sugar is actually in different kinds of food and drinks," Abby signed back.

"God, that's a good one," Becks sighed miserably. "I hate science. I was telling Ms. Brandt that everything in the world has already been discovered or are being studied right now by people much smarter than me. She didn't seem to like that very much."

As Becks kept going on and on about how science was clearly a torture device sent to earth from the Devil as they walked down the street, Abby could hear her best friend, but admittedly, she wasn't listening to her. Max Moraine had just asked her out on a date. She was only thirteen and she had already known that no boy would ever be interested in her – at least not a boy from this town. But that had been the problem because she was only thirteen, but she already knew that she never wanted to leave this town. She was a girl from the Georgia country. A girl of the woods. She couldn't imagine living anywhere else even if she knew that it would probably lead to a life alone.

There was a reason why she admired and loved Emily Dickinson as much as she did.

But now, Max Moraine had just asked her to get some pizza with him and she had agreed to go and Abby had no idea what to even think about that because she had never imagined that for herself. Girls in her class were already talking about their dream weddings and creating fantasy lives for themselves on Pinterest, but Abby had never even imagined that a boy would even look in her direction.

A part deep inside of her brain also wouldn't let go of the idea that maybe, just maybe, this was all some part of an elaborate joke and if she was to go out with Max, she would wind up being what she always was. The punch line to a joke she never found funny.

…

Daryl Dixon couldn't help it. He had woken up, really wanting to have sex. Unfortunately, when he woke up, his wife was already out of bed and he could hear her in the shower. They never had time for morning sex though and he knew he wouldn't be able to go into the shower and start something they wouldn't be able to finish. He wasn't looking for a quickie with her anyway. He wanted something they rarely seemed to have.

Time.

With a frown, this day already shitty despite having just opened his eyes, Daryl pulled himself out of bed and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he stood at the sink, he could see his wife, Beth Dixon, standing in their shower through the glass door.

She saw him and smiled. "Good morning!" She called out over the running water.

Daryl just grunted, his mouth full of toothpaste. He didn't think about how he just wanted to go into the shower and kiss her neck and breasts.

Downstairs, Hunter and Abby were already awake and dressed, getting themselves bowls of cereal and juice for breakfast and the Dixons were all early risers, but that didn't mean they were morning people. Beth was the only one who was. The kids were just like their dad and didn't really talk in full sentences until they had been awake for an hour.

Daryl started brewing a pot of coffee and popped a couple of pieces of bread in the toaster. He then turned around and leaned back against the counter behind him and with his arms crossed over his chest, he looked to the kids sitting at the kitchen table. Not so much kids anymore – Hunter was seventeen and Abby was thirteen – but Daryl didn't care. They would always be kids to him. Hunter was reading a magazine as he chewed on his spoons of cereal and Abby was reading a book as she usually always was doing, sipping on her glass of apple juice. Hunter was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt – as he usually did in the fall – and Abby was wearing a dress – as she usually did.

"You gonna be warm enough?" Daryl asked her, his voice a bit rough from not having used it for so many hours. Abby knew he was talking to her and she didn't lift her eyes from her book as she nodded. "At least take one of your sweaters or somethin'," he said. He didn't care how old she was. She was thirteen and was obviously more than capable of dressing herself, but Abby was his baby girl and he wasn't going to let her freeze – whether she actually would or not.

A little bit later, the kids left for school and Beth entered the kitchen in a whirl, a bit frantic because she was running late for work. Daryl had already filled her travel mug with coffee and she smiled, standing on her toes and giving him a quick kiss. Daryl refused to think about how the feel of her lips shot right down to his crotch.

"Pull some deer from the freezer for dinner tonight," Beth called over her shoulder as she hurried away. "Love you!"

And then she was gone and it was just Daryl and the family black cat, Kyle.

He had worked at Dale's Auto Garage in town for years and had just thought he would be there forever. But then Dale retired – as the man deserved to do – and had put his nephew in charge after that. Daryl and the nephew, almost immediately, hadn't agreed how things should be done and it hadn't mattered that Daryl had been Dale's best mechanic for years. Dale's nephew hadn't cared for Daryl and hadn't hid it from him. He had been miserable for months and Beth had been the one to suggest that he quit.

So he did – even though Daryl's biggest worry in life had always been money.

But his reputation as a first-class carpenter was now known throughout the entire Southeast and plenty of people hired him for plenty of projects and he made plenty of money in the process. For the first time in their married life, Daryl and Beth Dixon found themselves to be pretty financially comfortable and Daryl supposed they were still getting used to it because they still worked as hard as they always had.

Daryl spent his day in the garage, which he had expanded into his woodshop, working on a dining room hutch for some well-to-do couple in Atlanta. They were paying him big bucks for it and Daryl was spending as much as he could, making sure it was perfect.

He remembered to pull deer meat from the deep freeze and leave it defrosting in the sink and around lunchtime, he tossed it into the crock pot with some carrots and onions and he figured it wouldn't be a good idea to call Beth at the daycare center where she worked and ask her if she could come home on her lunch break just so he could get some sex. He didn't know what the hell was wrong with him. He was never like this. Nine times out of ten, Beth was the one to reach for him.

Deep down, he knew it was because when they first started seeing one another, he had tried so hard to show her that he just wasn't some horn dog, just wanting the young, pretty woman to come around so he could have sex with her.

When the kids came home from school, he noticed immediately that Abby seemed distracted. She was quiet – which was nothing new – but she seemed like she had something weighing heavily on her mind.

"You alrigh'?" He asked her.

And Abby nodded as he expected her to do. Beth came home then and she noticed it immediately with Abby as well.

"Is everything okay, Abby?" Beth asked their daughter.

Again, Abby nodded and both Beth and Daryl decided not to press on the matter at the moment. They both knew that things had gotten so much better for their daughter since Becks Conway had moved to town and the two girls had seemed to immediately become friends. They weren't getting phone calls from her teacher anymore, talking about the other kids and their bullying. She seemed lighter, happier, and both Daryl and Beth, of course, noticed and were both so happy and relieved with the change.

Hopefully, whatever was on her mind, she would eventually talk with them about it.

Daryl stood at the stove, stirring a pot of egg noodles to have with the deer and vegetables, and Beth came up behind him, her arms slipping around his waist, and standing on her toes, she kissed the back of his neck.

"Mmmm. How was your day?" She asked, her breath warm against his skin.

Daryl smirked a little. "'m gonna need you to not do that right now."

"Why?" Beth asked and he wasn't looking at her, but he could hear the frown on her face. She lowered herself back down on her feet and her arms fell away from his waist.

He didn't turn around to face her and instead, kept stirring the pot of noodles. "Cause I don't need either of our kids seein' what I wanna do to you."

It took Beth half a second to realize what he meant and now, he didn't turn around to see the happy smile on her face or the faint blush across her cheeks.

"Oh," she then said, almost giggling, and she then went to the cabinet to get plates.

They heard heavy steps on the back porch and a moment later, the back door was pushed open and Merle Dixon was standing there.

"Hey there," he greeted them as if it hadn't been nearly a month since he had last been by. "Mind if I come in for dinner?" He asked.

"Of course!" Beth exclaimed happily and went to throw her arms around him in a hug.

Merle was always doing this. He would disappear for weeks or even months and call Daryl occasionally just to let his little brother know that he was still alive, but he never said where he was or what he was doing. Daryl honestly knew that he probably didn't want to really know what his brother was up to.

And then, randomly, he would pop back into their lives as if he had never been away.

Merle smiled and patted her on the back.

"Kids!" Beth called out as she stepped away from Merle. "Your Uncle Merle's here!"

A moment later, Hunter and Abby had both run into the kitchen and had thrown themselves at him, excited and overjoyed to see him, and Merle laughed as he hugged them. He rubbed a hand over Hunter's head as he always did and he hugged Abby as if she was made of glass, just as he always did.

"Alright, alright, let an ol' man breathe," Merle grumbled though he was grinning and loving all of the attention he was getting.

Daryl stepped forward then and the brothers exchanged a hug with fists pounding on the back. When they broke apart, Merle grinned, able to see Daryl's relief on his face.

"Alright, kids," Beth said. "Help me come set the table in the dining room."

"If you wanna beer, they're in the fridge in the basement," Daryl told Merle as he drained the pot of noodles into the strainer in the sink. "And get me one, too."

Minutes later, the family was sitting at the dining room table with the bowl of noodles and another bowl of steaming deer meat and vegetables and Beth said the prayer of thanks as she did every other evening, everyone's heads bowed.

"Here, sweetie," Beth said, passing the bowl of egg noodles to Abby.

Abby took the bowl and as she spooned some noodles onto her plate, rather casually, she then said, "Max Moraine asked me out on a date and I told him okay. Is that okay?"

Everyone was absolutely silent, staring at her as she passed the bowl of noodles towards Uncle Merle, who sat across from her. Hunter had just been able to shove some deer in his mouth, but the fork was paused, hanging in mid-air in front of his mouth as he looked at his sister. Beth turned in her chair towards Abby and it looked almost as if she was wanting to smile. The bottle of beer had frozen on Daryl's lips just as he was about to take a sip as he stared at Abby.

Merle recovered first, heaping a huge pile of noodles onto his plate. He looked over to Daryl, who was still looking at Abby, unmoving. "Seemed like I picked a good time to show up again, baby brother."

…

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review! I hope everyone has an amazing holiday!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you very much to those who read and reviewed the first chapter. I've been really struggling with Daryl and Beth for the past few days so it means so much that you like a story that isn't necessarily about them.**

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…

Daryl slowly put his beer bottle down, his eyes never leaving Abby. "Wha'?" He managed to ask, his voice sounding as if he'd gone years without using it.

"Someone asked you out on a date?" Beth asked, and she was still trying so hard not to smile as she turned completely in her chair so she faced Abby, who was sitting next to her. "Do you like him, Abby?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Daryl frowned. Beth turned and gave him a swift frown before turning back towards Abby, her face soft once more.

Abby was quiet for a moment and then, after a moment, she gave a small nod.

Daryl kept frowning. He knew Abby was thirteen-years-old already and he knew that Beth would say that all of this was perfectly normal at this age, but still. That didn't mean that _he_ was ready for her to start liking boys and going out on dates.

"Who's this Max Moraine kid?" Merle spoke up, not stopping in shoveling food into his mouth even after Beth gave him a frown for talking with his mouth full.

"His mom is Lydia from the barber shop," Beth answered him.

There was more, of course, but Beth didn't know if it would be appropriate to mention it at the dinner table in front of the kids though it wasn't a secret to any of them; of Mr. Moraine being a State Policeman and being shot – and dying – in the line of duty.

"He's an asshole," Hunter spoke up, but did so in a grumble.

"Hunter," Beth frowned at him.

"He is," Hunter said and refused to apologize for cursing. "You _like_ him?" He then looked to Abby and asked her, not even bothering to hide the disgust in his tone.

Abby didn't say anything. She kept her eyes down towards her plate and didn't look at any of them. They knew she could hear them though. They knew she oftentimes preferred to have her hearing aids off rather than on, but at the dinner table, it was a rule that she had to have them on. Daryl understood ignoring the world sometimes, but ignoring the family just wasn't an option.

"What's wrong with 'im?" Daryl asked. He leaned back in his seat, taking his beer bottle with him, but ignoring the plate of food in front of him. He wasn't feeling too hungry at the moment, but beer was definitely welcome.

"He said that she was like a jellyfish. She didn't have a brain," Hunter said, still looking towards Abby and frowning.

"What?" Merle practically barked and Abby jumped a little in her chair from the outburst. "You like a boy who'll say things like that 'bout you?"

"Abby…" Beth began to say, her face creased with concern.

Abby sighed heavily, glaring at Hunter. "He said he was sorry more than once," she signed to all of them quickly. "…and I believe him," she added after a moment. "Max wants to go out for pizza and the arcade and I want to go."

Beth and Daryl looked at her and then Beth turned her head so they could look at one another. Daryl sighed and didn't say anything and took another sip of beer as Beth looked back to Abby.

"Your father and I will talk about it tonight and we'll let you know tomorrow morning," Beth promised her and Abby didn't like that answer, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Her parents would talk and hopefully, her mom could get her dad to come around because the way he was frowning around the mouth of his beer bottle right now, if up to him, this would be the first and last date she would ever be asked to go on.

Abby loved her dad. Absolutely loved him and she knew he loved her more than anything in this world. She and her mom and her brothers were the most important things in the world to Daryl Dixon and Abby knew that he loved nothing the same way in the same amount that he loved them. Max laying an insult at Abby's feet was the worst thing he could ever do and Max probably didn't even know it. Now that Daryl knew that Max had been the one to call Abby a jellyfish and actually make him and Beth consider pulling Abby out of school to teach her at home instead, Abby didn't know how her mom could convince her dad to let her go out on this date.

Max wasn't the only one to ever insult her, but his insult had been the straw that broke the camel's back and it probably wouldn't matter to Daryl that Max had been the only one to ever apologize for something cruel that had been said to her. It probably also wouldn't matter that Abby found herself liking Max in return. To Daryl, his daughter was beautiful and _normal_ and there would be a ton of other boys to come around – better boys – and want to ask her out on dates. He would never, not for one second, think what Abby thought.

Daryl was her dad. Of course he would think that and not see anything else.

And Abby knew she was only thirteen and her entire life was still ahead of her and maybe, _maybe_ , something would happen years from now and another boy or man would show interest in her. Some day; many days from now. But it was this town. She loved this town and never wanted to live anywhere else, but in this town, she was inside of a box and everyone only knew her in this box, and she couldn't imagine herself ever getting out of it.

Max saw her in the box and knew she wasn't considered to be normal by their other classmates – _Feral Abby_ – and yet, he had still apologized and asked her to get some pizza and play some arcade games with him.

Abby sat at the dining room table and looked at her dad and her brother and her uncle and wished she was able to explain all of that to them, but she knew it would be pointless. They would never agree with her and never see her point of view. To them, Abby was perfect and everyone else was an idiot for not being able to see it.

…

Son of a bitch.

He had wanted sex. That was all he wanted. He wanted Hunter and Abby to go to bed and he would close and lock his and Beth's bedroom door and then he would finally get to have the sex with his wife that he had been craving all day.

Had that been too much to ask?

Apparently so because now, he sat on the edge of their bed and tried to wrap his head around the fact that not only was Abby now thirteen – which he had known and had a rude awakening to it the day he had to buy her pads for her first period – but now, she was wanting to go out on a date and no. Just no. That was way too much in the same year.

He should have set down a rule of no dating until she was at least twenty.

Beth came out of the bathroom, flicking the light switch off with her elbow and rubbing lotion into her hands as she did every other night. She took one look at Daryl sitting there and couldn't help but smile a little. She came towards the bed and climbed up beside him, coming to kneel behind him with her arms sliding around his shoulders and leaning her cheek down against his.

"I already know what you're gonna say," Daryl said before Beth could even open her mouth to say anything. "And I'm sayin' no, Beth. I'm puttin' my foot down. Abby's not goin' out with some lil' asshole."

Beth was not surprised in the least with that. She was quiet for another moment, thinking it through. She then gave a soft exhale of breath and rested her chin on his shoulder and felt him lean back a little against her chest.

"She likes him," Beth reminded him quietly.

"She don't know better," he retorted.

"What if I had listened to everyone and what they said about you?" Beth questioned.

Daryl turned his head so she could see his scowl. "That ain't the same. I didn' call you some brainless jellyfish in front of a bunch of people and make you cry."

"But if you had, I know you would have apologized for it."

Daryl kept frowning. "That's the difference, Beth. I never would have done somethin' like that in the first place."

Beth thought on that for a moment and then kissed his cheek before sitting back, her arms slipping away from him, and Daryl turned to keep looking at her.

"Thirteen-year-olds, especially thirteen-year-old _boys_ , are idiots," Beth said.

Daryl didn't exactly have an argument for that, but still. That didn't mean he had to let some thirteen-year-old idiot around his daughter.

"We have to let her try things, Daryl," Beth told him. "We have to let her have crushes and go out on dates and experience those things that other girls do."

Daryl supposed that was true. He sometimes forgot that Abby was thirteen and she was growing up and he knew it was something he wanted to just forget, but that didn't mean that it wasn't happening just because he was turning a blind eye to it. Before he knew it, Abby would be sixteen and then eighteen and she was growing into a young lady and even just thinking about that almost made him cringe because no, damn it. Abby was their Miss Abby. Their little girl. _His_ little girl. Who the hell said it was okay for her to start growing up and to start liking boys?

With a heavy sigh, he fell back onto the bed, on his back beside Beth, staring up at the ceiling, the scowl still over his face. Kneeling next to him, Beth lifted her hand and gently ran it over his face as if trying to unknot the wrinkles with her touch. And usually, that would work, but not right now. He wasn't done scowling.

He hated this. He loved his kids. Loved them more than anything else in this whole word, but sometimes, he hated this because sometimes, he still felt like he didn't have the first clue as to be a dad. Sometimes, he felt like he should still be living all by himself, practically a hermit up in those woods without anyone bothering him.

Things would have been easier, that was for sure. Not better. Just easier.

"Fine," he grunted after another moment. "She can go, but I swear, Beth. If this kid does anythin' to hurt her…" he trailed off then, figuring any threat Beth could imagine was good enough and would get his point across.

Beth smiled and then leaned down, pressing her lips to his forehead and he closed his eyes at the contact.

"Were you her age when you went out on your first date?" Daryl asked as she moved herself around so she could curl up next to him at his side.

"Exactly her age. I think my daddy was having the same kind of freak out you are right now," Beth said with a light laughter in her tone. "After Maggie and her teenage years, daddy didn't know if he was strong enough to handle and be able to survive _another_ Greene teenage girl."

"You go out with Jimmy?" He looked up at her, mentioning the only boy Beth had ever dated before she met and fell in love with and then married Daryl.

"Yes," Beth answered and Daryl nearly smiled when she visibly grimaced at that.

"What'd you do on your first date?" He asked, turning on his side, facing her. He bent his elbow and propped his head up in his hand.

"Lost my virginity," Beth said without missing a beat and then burst into a shriek of laughter when Daryl reached out and started tickling her side. "No, no!" She exclaimed breathlessly while laughing and trying to get away from him.

Daryl finally relented and Beth caught her breath, still laughing a little. "You're so damn mean to me," he grumbled.

"I'm sorry," Beth said, rolling towards him, slipping her arms around his neck, but it didn't sound as if she was sorry in the least. "Jimmy and I went to go see a movie together and then we got a hot fudge sundae except the idiot didn't tell me that he was allergic to nuts, so we had to call his mom while the ice cream shop had to call the hospital. I was so mad at him."

Daryl was quiet, thinking that over, unable to help but quirk his lips into the smallest smile at the idea of the idiot, Jimmy, doing something like that. Of course, at the same time, Daryl got it. If he was sitting across from Beth and she wanted a hot fudge sundae, he would order it no matter what – allergies be damned.

…

After school, the next day, Abby wasn't sure why, but she grabbed Becks' hand and pulled her down the stairs and out of the front doors before Max could stop and talk with her. That morning at breakfast, her dad had said that she could go out with Max tonight – and Hunter had been less than happy about that; his exact words being "What the hell?" – and then this morning, before the bell rang, Abby had told Max that she was allowed to go out with him tonight if he still wanted to go.

"Of course I still want to go," he had said and he was wearing another hooded sweatshirt, his hands in the front pouch. "Do you still want to go out with me?" He asked and looked at her and Abby could have sworn that maybe he looked scared as if she was going to change her answer from the "okay" that she had given yesterday.

Abby nodded. "I do," she answered.

Max let out a breath at that. "Good," he said with a bobbing head. "Great!" He then said and then cringed at his enthusiasm. "Um," he pulled a hand out to scratch the back of his head. "My mom and I will come by your house to pick you up at five."

And now, after the final bell, Abby was practically running away. And thankfully, Becks didn't question her; just walking rapidly at her side, easily keeping pace.

"We have to go to the drugstore," Abby signed so quickly, Becks shook her head and Abby slowed her fingers down, signing it again. "I need pads."

"Gotcha," Becks said with a single nod. "I have a tampon if you want that," she offered though she knew Abby wouldn't take it.

The cramps had started in World History class, while they were in the middle of studying the causes of WWI, and Ms. Brandt had given her permission for the bathroom pass. Abby hated standing up and walking in front of the class – always feeling like everyone was watching her – and she hurried out as quickly as she could. And sure enough, in the bathroom, she saw that her period had started. Her mom was always telling her to keep an extra pad in her bookbag, but it was just something she always forgot and she didn't have any change for the vending machine in the bathroom that could get her one.

She had taken toilet paper and had folded it over and over to put in her underpants, but for the rest of the day, she was preoccupied and she wanted to be able to go buy one as quick as possible; not even wanting to wait until she got home for one.

Abby knew Becks and some of the other girls used tampons, but Abby couldn't imagine ever being comfortable with using one herself. She didn't like the idea of anything going inside of her like that. Her mom had known that and hadn't even tried to show her when she started having a period. She had started right off with pads and that was what Abby would stick with for the time being.

In the tiny local drugstore, Abby and Becks went up the feminine hygiene aisle.

"What are you going to wear tonight?" Becks asked.

Abby looked down to the green dress she was wearing that day.

"You're not going to get super fancy, are you?" Becks asked.

Abby knew that Becks wasn't exactly enthusiastic about her date with Max tonight – her and Hunter seemed to share the same opinion of him – but Becks had already told Abby that she would be encouraging and if Abby really did want to go out on a date with Max, she should do what she wanted and not what others wanted her to do. In Becks' world, things were always as simple as that and always should be.

"It's just pizza," Abby signed to her with a small frown.

"Exactly," Becks signed back. Even with Abby's aids turned on during the school day, the girls liked to use sign language more times than not so others wouldn't know what they were talking about with one another. "Don't do anything for him that you normally wouldn't do. Remember. It's just Max."

Abby nodded and grabbed a small pack of pads from the shelf.

Max. Just Max – who made her stomach feel like she was constantly going down the first big drop of a rollercoaster.

She knew what Becks had just said, but was she supposed to wear something different? She wore dresses every day, but was she supposed to wear one of her nicer ones for her first date? Maybe on the dresses she wore to church on Sunday?

At the front register, Abby set the pack of pads down and she noticed the cashier – a man – barely lifted them up to scan them; as if he wanted to touch anything else besides pads. That had happened a couple of times before – when she and her family were at the big store, buying other things and if the cashier was a man, he seemed always so embarrassed about having to ring them up. Abby didn't get it. Her dad and Hunter had no problem picking up a pack if it was needed. All girls and women of a certain age had a period. Beth had told her that it wasn't a big deal. It was just something that happened and it was natural and men were generally idiots.

"Do you want a paper bag so no one can see?" The cashier asked – loudly because everyone knew Abby Dixon couldn't hear – once Abby handed him the emergency five that she had; given to her by her dad so long ago "jus' in case", he had said and Abby had never had emergency until now.

"Actually," Becks spoke up with a sugary smile. "We're just going to carry it. A pad is needed right now."

The man visibly blanched and Becks did her best not to laugh at him as she handed the pack to Abby and the two girls left the drugstore. As soon as they were outside, Becks started laughing and Abby shook her head, unable to keep from smiling.

That was one of the reasons Abby loved Becks and was so happy she moved to town and had wanted to be friends with her, of all people. Becks was so brave; the kind of brave that Abby could never imagine herself being.

"We'll go to my house," Becks offered. Becks lived in town while the Dixon farmhouse was almost a mile away and Abby was thankful. She really just wanted to put this pad on and then get home and get ready for when Max and their date.

"Abby!"

The voice was shouting from behind them, and Abby could hear it, but Becks took her arm gently just in case. Both girls turned and saw Hunter jogging their way.

"I have to go to Becks' house," Abby signed to him quickly. "It's an emergency."

"Hey," Hunter came to a stop in front of them. He looked at the pack of pads in her arm, but unlike the cashier in the drugstore, he seemed like he could have cared less. "What time are you going out tonight?" He asked her.

"Max and his mom are picking me up at five," Abby answered.

"And you're going to Marco's for pizza?" Hunter asked.

Abby gave him a look, her head tilted slightly to the side as if studying him. "Yes…" she answered slowly.

"Cool. Sounds good," Hunter nodded. "Alright. See you later."

And with that, he slipped pat them and began jogging down the street again. Abby frowned, watching after him, and Becks shook her head slightly.

"I don't have a brother, but… that was weird, right?" Becks asked her.

Abby didn't answer. She just nodded and kept watching after Hunter. She had enough things on her mind right now – mainly getting to Becks house and then asking her mom to help her braid her hair – but if she didn't have anything else to think about, Abby would definitely be trying to figure out what Hunter was up to something because while she wasn't as smart as Hunter, it was obvious that he was definitely up to something.

…

* * *

 **Thank you again for reading and for your support.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I have five parts for this story planned. Just a short, little family story so we can check in and see how they're doing.**

* * *

…

"Where the hell you goin'?" Daryl asked Hunter as Hunter moved towards the front door, putting on his jacket. Daryl thought he would want to stick around and help him interrogate Max when the kid came to pick Abby up in just a few more minutes.

"Heading out," Hunter said. "With Uncle Merle."

And normally, that would make Daryl stop him right then and there and make Hunter tell him just what exactly he would be doing with his Uncle Merle, but right now, Daryl had bigger things on his mind; like how not to punch a thirteen-year-old kid who was coming to pick up his daughter for their date.

Date.

The word just felt wrong on his tongue.

Hunter left and Daryl remained standing in the hallway, staring at the grandfather's clock that Beth had insisted they get from the second-hand furniture store as it counted down the minutes. Abby said that Max and his mom would be picking her up at five and ever since she had come home from school, she had been upstairs and Beth had been with her and Daryl had no idea what they could be doing. He wasn't too sure that he even wanted to know.

A date. Christ. Daryl didn't know how he was going to make it through tonight. Having boys was different. For the obvious reasons, of course, but really, with boys, you could just throw them in the deep end to see if they sank or swam and if they began to sink, you dove in and taught them how to swim. Girls though, _daughters_ , you had to start off in the shallow end and your hands could never be too far away to catch them if they even _thought_ of beginning to go under.

That was how he did it anyway and he didn't think any of his kids had turned out too bad with that parenting technique.

But as if being a girl didn't make her different enough already, Abby was the first female Dixon in years. It had been quite a few branches on the soiled family tree before a girl was actually born into the Dixon family and didn't willingly enter into it through marriage. Even if the Dixon's were close to one another and shared the sort of relationships to seek and share advice, no one in the family would be able to help Daryl as to how he was to raise a girl.

He had just done what he always did and followed his instincts so that was what he tried to do right now as he waited for both Max to arrive to pick Abby up and for Abby to come down the stairs from her bedroom.

Abby was going to be going out on her first date tonight and there wasn't anything that Daryl could do to stop it, but he thought of the ground rules he was going to set because there damn well were going to be rules. _A lot_ of rules they had to follow.

The minutes ticked by until it was almost five o'clock and Daryl wondered if Abby and Max would object to having their first date in the living room where Daryl could sit in one of the armchairs and watch their every move the whole evening.

…

Beth knew she was being silly and she told herself that over and over again, but she couldn't help herself. As she finished the braid she was working on and pinned it back with the bobby pins from between her teeth, she felt tears stinging her eyes.

 _"_ _What's wrong?"_ Abby signed to her.

"Nothing, baby," Beth answered with a shake of her head. She then gave her daughter a smile. "There. I'm all done."

Abby smiled and then stood from the bed and crossed the room to the mirror hanging on the wall above her dresser. She wore her blonde hair down as she always did, but she had had Beth braid the front locks and then pin them back. She wore the same green dress she had worn to school that day, but had put on a soft gray cardigan sweater over it so her arms weren't bare and Abby stood back enough where she could look at most of herself in the mirror's reflection.

Beth stood up as well and looked at Abby as she looked herself over and she couldn't help, but sniffle. Her baby girl looked so beautiful and she was going out on her first date tonight. Beth couldn't help, but be emotional.

Though Beth and Daryl didn't see a single thing wrong with her, Beth knew that Abby, most of the time, didn't feel normal and it wasn't just because of her hearing – though plenty of kids at school had made fun of her for it. She didn't feel normal because she liked to go barefoot and read an endless amount of books and slip into the woods for hours at a time. Beth remembered herself at this age, experimenting with makeup and hair styles and giggling with her friends over the hottest new celebrity. That wasn't Abby. It never had been and never would be and Beth loved her daughter and who she was more than anyone in this world.

And she knew Daryl would argue with anyone who tried to tell him this, but Abby was excited for her date for Max tonight for one reason. It made her feel normal.

Abby spun towards Beth and smoothed her hands down the front of her dress. "I look alright?" She asked, the first sign of nerves beginning to creep in.

Beth smiled and stepped forward, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear. "You look beautiful," she said and Abby, blessed with her mom's pale complexion, promptly burst into an obvious blush.

Beth kissed her on the forehead and Abby smiled up at her.

"You be yourself tonight," Beth then told her. "He wants to go out with you tonight so he can spend more time with _you_. Not a girl you think you should be."

Abby didn't say anything to that, but she nodded and was looking more nervous now and Beth gave her a smile and another kiss on the forehead.

"Come on. He should be coming soon," Beth said and Abby nodded, visibly swallowing as she looked at her reflection one more time. "Are your aids up?" She then thought to ask and again, Abby nodded.

"Beth!" Daryl then called from downstairs. "He's here!"

Beth looked to Abby and the girl had completely frozen, her fingers tangled in the hem of her dress, and her eyes widened. Beth pursed her lips together to keep from smiling and she put an arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"You're going to have a wonderful time and I already can't wait to hear all about it when you get home later tonight," Beth told her, gently guiding her towards the closed door of her bedroom.

Beth opened it, but Abby stopped herself before stepping out.

"What are you and dad going to do tonight without me home?" Abby asked because she was always home and usually, with not having school tomorrow, they would more than likely pick a movie to watch together and make popcorn or watch a string of episodes of _Cupcake Wars_ if it was on the television.

Beth thought of how Daryl had been over the past couple of days and she did her best to make sure her smile didn't give _too_ much away. "I'm sure we'll find something to do," was all she said. "Oh! Your shoes. Don't forget your shoes!"

Abby looked down to her bare feet as if it hadn't even occurred to her that she would have to wear shoes and Beth admitted that it had almost completely slipped her mind as well. The only time Abby's feet were covered at all times was in the winter. But as soon as the seasons changed and the sun and ground were both warm enough, her shoes came off and stayed off for the majority of the time. Even in school, she wore black ballet flat shoes so she could slip her feet out of them as she sat at her desk.

Abby went to go slip on those shoes now and she then turned back to Beth.

 _"_ _I don't want to kiss him,"_ she signed to Beth. _"Do I have to kiss him?"_

"No, Abby," Beth immediately responded, firmly, walking to her and putting her hands on her shoulders, holding onto her. She shook her head. "You do not have to do anything you don't want to do. Ever. No matter what people say, you do what you want to do and you do what feels right."

Abby was quiet for a moment, thinking that over. _"I don't know how to kiss_ ," she then signed, her eyes lowering to the floor.

Beth smiled and putting a hand on Abby's chin, she guided her head back up so they could look at one another. "I had no idea how to kiss either," she said. "And when I had my first kiss, I was terrified that I didn't know what I was doing. But it was okay because the boy didn't know what he was doing either."

Abby frowned a little. "I bet Max has kissed tons of girls already," she said quietly.

"Well, then, I bet that if you two ever do kiss, he's going to hate it that he didn't just wait until you were his first kiss, too," Beth said and when Abby's lips began turning upwards into a little smile, Beth smiled, too.

…

Daryl looked at the little punk standing in his front hallway and he didn't even try to hide his frown directed right at the kid. Of course he was going to frown at the kid. What the hell was he going to do? Shake his hand and offer him a Coke? Hell. No.

This kid was the one to call her a jellyfish. No brain, no bones and no heart. And Daryl didn't care that the kid had apologized to Abby and had meant it and was now taking her out because the point was that this kid even _thought_ of saying something that cruel to his daughter in the first place.

He knew that Max played football and because of that, he was probably considered one of the "cool" kids. School had this whole stupid social pyramid that didn't mean shit once a person left school, but kids never seemed to realize that.

The kid looked nervous. He wasn't able to hide it. Good, Daryl thought to himself. He _should_ be nervous. He was about to take his Ms. Abby out. His _only_ daughter. This kid was lucky he didn't answer the door, holding his crossbow and Max was lucky that Daryl liked his mom, Lydia, enough and feared his own wife just enough to stop himself from escalating it to that level.

Max didn't know it, but he was lucky that Hunter and Merle weren't there with them. They had no obligation to either Lydia or Beth to not kill him where he stood.

"Mr. Dixon," Max spoke suddenly and quickly and Daryl had already been staring at him and he kept doing so now, not saying a word. He just waited and Max swallowed and shifted a little on his feet. "I've already apologized to Abby, but I need to apologize to you, too."

Daryl still didn't say anything and his face remained blank so Max wouldn't be able to see that he was caught off guard.

"I'm really sorry," Max continued and it was obvious the kid wanted to drop his eyes to the floor, but he kept himself looking at Daryl. "I shouldn't have said it and I'm a jerk for even thinking of saying something like that about Abby."

"Not arguin' with you on that," Daryl spoke, his voice rough and gruff and Max's eyes finally did drop to the floor and he visibly swallowed again. He heard a door open upstairs and he looked up the stairs, but they weren't coming yet. He looked back to Max. "I don't think I need to tell you what'll happen if you hurt her again," he said and he wasn't even going to try and disguise it as anything other than a threat because that was exactly what it was.

"No, Mr. Dixon," Max's shake of the head was immediate and he looked terrified and Daryl supposed that would have to be good enough for now. At least the kid had had the balls to apologize. He didn't know if too many others would have bothered.

Both turned their heads and looked up the stairs when they saw Abby and Beth coming down, Abby coming down first and Beth behind, with a soft smile on her face. Daryl couldn't stop looking at his daughter. She was only thirteen and he didn't care how kids acted nowadays. Thirteen was still a damn kid. But tonight, she was thirteen and she was wearing a dress as she usually did, but she looked nervous, but she was still smiling and she looked so damn pretty. He knew his opinion was probably a little biased, but he always thought his daughter was beautiful. She was a mirror image of her mama. A mini-Beth and he thought his wife and daughter were beautiful all of the time.

But tonight, there was something different about her. She was still beautiful, but there was something else, too, and Daryl didn't know what.

Abby gave Daryl a small smile and then looked back to Max, coming to a stop in front of him, and both of them looked as nervous as the other.

Beth stopped on the bottom step and Daryl looked to her, but she was watching Max and Abby and it looked like she was about to start crying at any second.

"Hi," Abby – surprisingly – spoke first.

"Hi," Max quickly spoke in return. "You look… beautiful," he then said, whispering the last word too soft for Abby to hear and she leaned her head in a little, her brow furrowed, and Max, realizing that even with her hearing aids in, he lifted his eyes and looked at her. "You look really nice," he said this time and Abby smiled.

Daryl cleared his throat then and both kids looked at him.

"You got a curfew, Abby," he said and even though she had never had one before, she was going out with a boy tonight and she sure as hell had one now. "Eight o'clock."

"I'll tell my mom," Max nodded.

"And you'll just be at Marco's?" Beth spoke up.

"Yes, ma'm," Max answered. "I figured we'd get a pizza and then play in the arcade." He looked to Abby then before looking back to her parents. "If Abby wants to."

"That sounds like fun," Beth smiled and she moved her eyes to Abby and as if feeling them, Abby looked to Beth as well and Beth smiled at her.

Daryl frowned though.

That sounded like a terrible idea. Abby hated loud noises. That's why she loved the woods so much. That's why she hated going anywhere near the thoroughfare of the state's fair when they went and much rather preferred looking at the animals and jars of preserves people entered for ribbons. Luke and Hunter always went to go play the games and ride the rides, but Abby always wanted to find a spot in the world that was as quiet as she heard it.

When her aids were in and turned on, loud noises were her least favorite thing in the world. Living in rural Georgia was probably one of the best places for her to live.

Her teachers had all learned that and when there were thunderstorms during school, Abby had permission to turn her hearing aids off. Fire alarm drills for the students were always terrible days for her and she would clamp her hands over her ears and close her eyes and wish for it to all be done.

Taking her to an arcade with bells and sirens and other people playing games, to Daryl, it damn near sounded like it was an evening designed to torture Abby.

And as if Beth could read his mind, her hand gently slipped onto his shoulder and Daryl saw why. He may have been frowning, but Abby definitely wasn't. Girl was smiling as if she had never heard of anything better. And Max was looking so damn nervous, but he looked at Abby and saw her reaction and he started to relax.

"Are you ready to go?" Max asked and Abby nodded.

Beth stepped down from the bottom step and she and Daryl followed them to the front door. Lydia Moraine, Max's mom, was waiting in the car, behind the wheel in their dirt drive, and when she saw them, she waved and Beth waved in return.

"Have fun," Beth told them both.

Daryl said nothing, but he stood there and watched them and couldn't help, but frown at the whole thing. He was actually watching his daughter leave on her first date.

It was times like these when he really had no idea how he got to this place.

"Good night, Mrs. Dixon. Good night, Mr. Dixon," Max said to them as he and Abby climbed down the front porch steps.

"Good night, Max," Beth smiled at him. Daryl grunted something, but even he didn't know what he had intended for it to mean.

Beth and Daryl stayed on the porch as watched as Max and Abby walked side-by-side – enough distance between them where not even their arms brushed together. At the back of the car, Max opened the door for Abby and she gave him a shy smile before she slid into the seat and he closed the door behind her and walking around the car to get into the other side next to her. Lydia smiled and turned in her seat, saying something to Abby, and Abby smiled shyly in reply. Abby then turned and looked at Beth and Daryl through her window, still standing on the front porch. Beth gave a smile and a wave as Lydia pulled out of the driveway and then, a moment later, it was no one, but Beth and Daryl and the crickets.

Beth turned her smile on Daryl. "Very good job for not making him pee in our front hall," she said, only partially teasing.

"I still don't like this," he grumbled with a frown.

"I know," Beth nodded and she rubbed her hands on his chest. "But, just remember. It really doesn't matter if you like it or not."

"Yeah," Daryl said.

He couldn't really argue with that because Abby had just looked so damn happy and there was no way around it. He had meant what he said to Max, though. Hurting Abby in any way, shape or form would result in swift action on Daryl's part and he thought that Max was an idiot, but not _that_ much of an idiot where he would do something and invite Daryl to kill him.

"Well, I actually thought you'd be a little happier," Beth said, breaking through his thoughts, and he looked at her as she gave him a smile, her hands still rubbing on his chest, and it took him barely a second to catch on.

They were alone. They had the house to themselves for the next three hours.

Hell, yeah, Daryl was happy – about that at least – and he dropped his hands to her hips and gave them a squeeze with a little smile, making Beth let out a laugh.

…

* * *

 **Abby and Max's date in the next chapter. Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

…

"Have fun!" Lydia called out through her open window and Max cringed as she did.

Abby noticed and pursed her lips together to keep from smiling at his obvious embarrassment. There was no reason to be embarrassed. They all had parents.

Max reached the door of Marco's Pizzeria and pulled it open for her. She was sure to give him a small smile as she stepped inside. For a Thursday, it was slightly crowded inside, but Marco's was usually crowded any day of the week. It was the only pizza place in their little town besides the Domino's and the food was good, but even if it wasn't, it would still always be crowded.

Abby was surprised when Max went to the hostess stand and talked with her for a moment before the woman took two menus, beaming at them. He had thought to make reservations.

"Right this way," she said and Max stepped aside so Abby could follow first and the hostess led them through the dining room to a booth against the back wall.

It was loud in the dining area that evening and Abby fidgeted with her fingers because her first instinct was to reach up and turn her hearing aids down so everyone would become a murmur of voices. But she couldn't do that. She was out on a date with Max and he would want to talk and she couldn't talk if she couldn't hear him and when she was out with her family and it was like this, they knew and would sign as they talked so she could be included in the conversation, but Max didn't know sign language.

She sat down on one side of the booth and Max slid in across from her and gave her a small smile; one she did her best to return. When standing in the front hallway, she had been excited and comfortable because she had been at home and her parents had been nearby, but now, it was just her and Max and they were alone and Abby had no idea what to do. Her stomach was knotted so tightly, it was growing painful.

Did all other girls know how to do this? Did they know how to go on dates and talk with boys one-on-one? Abby sat there, feeling like she was missing out on something that every other girl already knew what to do. She should have talked with Becks more about this. Or her mom. Her mom knew everything and her mom and dad still went out on a date together once a week. They _had_ to talk while out. What did they talk about?

"Hi, guys," their waitress appeared at their table with a smile. "Would either of you like something to drink?" She asked and Abby realized that she and Max hadn't exchanged a single word with one another since arriving there.

Max was looking at her now, letting her know that she should order first.

"Water, please," Abby ordered, but the room was too loud and her voice was too soft, but she didn't like to talk too loud because she hated how her voice sounded.

Even with her hair covering her hearing aids – and if this wasn't a small town with everyone knowing about her deafness already – a person could hear her voice and know that she wasn't exactly "right".

The waitress leaned in a little closer. "I'm sorry, hon, what was that?" She asked.

"Water," Abby repeated, her face on fire now, her voice a little louder and she just hoped that she wasn't now screaming without realizing it.

"You got it," the waitress smiled and then looked to Max to see what he wanted to drink and Abby stared down at the menu on the table in front of her; the menu she still hadn't opened because her stomach was so tight, she honestly didn't know if she'd be able to eat anything.

This was already such a disaster. The room was too loud and she hated it and she couldn't clearly hear herself talk and she hated it and Max was probably sitting there, wondering why he had ever asked Feral Abby to go out on a date with him. She didn't doubt that this would be her first and last date in her life.

She lifted her head when she saw Max slide from the booth and stand up and Abby felt her stomach sink to her feet. She wondered if his mom would give her a ride home or if she should just walk home. Home was over two miles away and it was getting dark and her parents would be furious at her for walking that alone, but her parents mad would be better than this.

But then Max came to stand next to her seat and she looked up at him, wondering what he was doing, and then he began to sit down next to her.

…

"What the hell is he doing?" Hunter asked, watching from the crowded bar area in Marco's; the bar that he was only allowed to be in because he was Merle Dixon's nephew and Merle knew the bartender and waitress in that section that night; naturally.

Merle watched his niece and her _date_ with a frown as he broke open another peanut, leaving the crushed shell parts sprinkled on the bar. Looked like the kid was getting fresh with her, but he didn't move from his stool. He saw the way Abby was smiling up at the little snot and moving further over onto the bench so he could have more room to sit down next to her.

"I think he's trying to talk with her," Merle admitted – reluctantly – but that's what it looked like to him. Maybe the kid wasn't trying to get fresh after all.

"You want a refill, Merle?" Charity, the waitress, asked him with her usual smile as she took away his empty beer bottle.

Merle nodded without taking his eyes off of Abby and the kid. Max was his name. What a stupid name. Max sounded like a dog's name.

Hunter nodded when Charity asked if he wanted a refill on his root beer, also not looking away from his sister.

"I wonder why dad didn't think to do this," Hunter wondered out loud.

Merle actually smirked at that, but he wouldn't tell Hunter his theory. Daryl would have been here – for sure – because nothing was more important to him than his kids, especially Abby, but Merle caught the looks Daryl was giving to Beth a couple of nights ago in the kitchen before dinner and if Abby hadn't dropped her own bombshell, Merle would have been ribbing his brother without stop.

Abby and Max had been talking and Abby had been smiling, but then she stopped and she lifted her eyes. Both Merle and Hunter grew still. Her smile faded and they watched as she looked around the dining room of Marco's, looking for something. And even though the bar area was crowded, Hunter found himself ducking behind the closest man, hiding himself from Abby's view.

It was as if she knew she was being watched.

And that shouldn't surprise him. With her losing a little bit more of her hearing every year, her other senses only grew stronger. It was actually pretty incredible. Despite his name, hunting wasn't his favorite thing to do, but he would sometimes go with his dad and Abby when they went out into the woods – usually for rabbits or a deer – and nobody could rival Daryl's hearing, but Abby seemed to see things no one else did.

"You're makin' yourself more obvious," Merle informed him as he took the beer Charity was holding out to him and he took a quick swig.

Hunter turned back to his uncle and frown. "If Abby finds out we're here, she'll kill us. And then she'll tell mom, and _she'll_ kill us."

Merle gave him a little smirk before taking another swig of beer. "Afraid of your mama?" He ribbed him.

Hunter's frown grew deeper. "Don't act like you're not afraid of her because we both know that you are."

Merle's smirk faded, but he didn't say anything to argue with that because Hunter was right. Beth may have been a little thing, but that didn't mean that she was frightening. More times than not, Beth reminded Merle of some fierce mama bear, ready to attack anyone who attacked her own.

Merle sighed heavily and looked back to the dining room. "What are they doin' now?" He asked, not able to get a clear view as both the dining room and the bar area got more crowded. With no school tomorrow for teach meetings, it seemed like every family in town had decided to come out for a pizza dinner.

Hunter, still hiding behind the man, peeked out to check if he could see and he could see his sister smiling as Max talked to her. She looked happy. Hunter would probably never admit that out loud if anyone asked, but she did look happy. He couldn't deny that. It wasn't as if Abby was never happy. She was happy a lot – especially lately since Becks moved to town and they become such close friends – but she was sad or melancholy just as much and when she _was_ happy, it was obvious to just about anyone.

"They're talking," Hunter answered, almost reluctantly.

…

"So, what are you reading now?" Max asked, pleased that he had found Abby's kryptonite of what would make her comfortable; not that it was hard to figure out.

Girl was always reading and was carrying at least two non-school books at all times. She read between classes. If she got to school early, she was always sitting at her desk, reading. Even when she and Becks sat together at a table in the cafeteria, there would be a book open in front of her. Sometimes, it looked like she was able to read even while listening to Becks talk because she would smile or laugh at what was said. And Max knew all of this because he watched her.

He couldn't say how long he had been watching her. It had been a long time though. He didn't want to say he had an obsession with Abby Dixon. He would just say that he really, _really_ liked her.

And she was smiling now as if he had just asked her the greatest question anyone had ever taken the time to ask her.

"So many things," Abby answered and he heard her speaking slowly, as if she didn't want him to hear her voice clearly. He could see her fingers clenched together, making fists as they rested in her lap. He knew she did that because she wanted to sign instead of talk, but he didn't know sign language and she knew that.

He was learning, but he didn't know enough to carry on a conversation with her and he hated that he was such a slow learner.

"I don't really read," he decided to confess to her. "Besides what we read for school."

Abby nodded as if she already knew that. Maybe she thought that he was like how people usually thought of football players. Dumb jocks with rocks for brains.

"Have you liked anything we've read?" She then asked and she was still smiling and he looked at her for a moment, nearly forgetting that she had asked him a question.

Girls weren't supposed to be pretty. Cute, sure, but at thirteen, they were all so damn awkward. That was what his mom said anything. Puberty and acne and growth spurts and the whole package. Some fared better than others, but still, Abby Dixon wasn't just cute or attractive. She was actually pretty in a way that no other girl in their school could claim.

He shook his head slightly as if to snap himself out of it. "I really liked _Johnny Tremain_ ," he managed to answer.

Abby smiled at that and nodded. "I loved that one, too."

Max smiled, too. Finally. He found something he had in common with her.

"What do you like on your pizza?" He asked.

"Pepperoni," Abby said and her fingers moved and he wondered if she even realized that she was signing as well when she answered him.

His smile grew. Something else. "Me, too."

…

Beth sat up and he unhooked her bra and brushed it down her shoulders and arms, tossing that aside and looking down to her naked body as she laid back down. She smiled faintly up at him and he removed himself from the bed only so that he could remove his own clothing. He then returned to her open arms and welcoming mouth.

"Daryl," she whispered his name as if in the middle of fevered prayer, tangling her fingers in his hair as he pressed his lips to her throat and then moved lower.

She gasped as his warm mouth suckled around a nipple, his tongue bringing it to a hard pebble. He then moved his mouth to the other breast for the same treatment. He lifted his head and pressed his lips to hers again as his hand followed the length of her body and slipped between her thighs, she spreading them in invitation. She gasped his name again as his fingers began to rub at her and two slipped inside of her. He moved them slowly, almost torturously, and he lifted his head, freeing her mouth so he could hear her moan and gasp. He rubbed against her inner walls and her hips began moving against his hand, her hands holding onto his shoulders.

He stared down to her as her eyes were closed and her mouth was open with cries of pleasure. His thumb began to circle her nub and Beth's back arched and her cry shattered the night.

Daryl's mouth found hers again and her fingers dove back in his hair, holding him close, her lips trembling against his. His hand pressed to the inside of her thigh and she spread them further apart for him, his hips setting between them. He found his hardened cock and stroking it, he began to press it into her, her gasp catching in her throat. No matter how many times he entered her, she always gasped through the process; as if every time was their first time and she was getting used to his size.

He thrust into her tight heat, she moaning beneath him in response, her hands on his back and nails in skin. His hips immediately began to pump again and again, diving in, keeping their bodies connected. Her hands fell to his hips, her thighs spreading wider, her cries growing louder. He braced himself above her, watching her face, overcome with his own pleasure as he felt his end building up within his body. He held it off as long as he was able to though that was proving to be damn difficult as Beth kept squeezing herself tightly around him.

Their bodies rocked and crashed together and he slammed into her, causing her to shatter and for him to groan and shudder as he spilled himself into her. He couldn't help himself from falling on top of her and Beth encircled her arms around him, holding him close.

"So good," her voice was soft, lips to his shoulder.

Daryl smiled, his face pressed to the juncture of her shoulder and throat, trying to return his breathing to normal. He lifted his head to look at her, his eyes falling into her own, and she smiled softly, lifting hands to brush his hair back from his face.

"Had it really been that long?" She asked, her own breath labored.

He smirked. "Well, it ain't been like we've had all the time in the world," he said.

Beth gave him a faint smile and her fingers continued playing with his hair. She then turned her head on the pillow to look towards their nightstand before looking back at him with a smile.

"We have two more hours," she told him and then giggled as Daryl broke into his own smile before leaning his head down and fusing his lips to hers again.

…

Max stayed sitting next to Abby and they ate pepperoni pizza and he asked her all of the questions that he had been wanting to know the answers to for months now.

Favorite movie? The Secret Garden.

"I've never seen it," he said and she smiled as if that wasn't surprising to her at all.

"I don't think you'd like it," she replied with a shake of her head.

Max pretended to be offended and she laughed softly which only made him smile.

He made her laugh. Hell, yeah.

Favorite food? Strawberries.

"Out of everything… strawberries?" Max asked, trying not to make a face.

Abby just kept smiling and she nodded her head. "We have wild strawberries growing in the woods around our house. They're the best thing in the world."

Max thought that over for a moment. "I've never had strawberries like that."

"I can bring you some," she offered and Max smiled at her.

"That'd be awesome," he said and Abby felt her stomach's knot tighten a little as that smile of his settled on her.

No one had ever smiled at her like that; no one she wasn't related to. Max was smiling at her as if perhaps she was the best thing he had ever seen. She could be wrong. Maybe she was just seeing something in his smile that she wanted to see. He had no reason to smile at her like that.

Max was one of the cutest boys in their class and she certainly wasn't the only girl who was aware of that. She didn't really understand why he was out – with her – where anyone could see them together and she knew that a part of her was still bracing for the joke or prank that might be coming, but the rest of her was knotted and fluttering all at once and she was smiling and laughing softly and her cheeks were warm with a blush. He had actually come and sat next to her as if he could sense her discomfort with talking too loud and _that_ had to mean something.

"Did you get enough to eat?" Max asked her, breaking through her thoughts.

Abby looked down to the medium pizza pan in front of them that was now empty except for a few wayward crumbs. She looked back to him and smiled and nodded.

He smiled, too. "You want to go to the arcade now?" He asked and she nodded again.

He turned around, trying to find their waitress so they could pay the check, and Abby's smile faded as she got a slight itching on the back of her neck. She was sitting next to the wall and yet, she was getting that feeling again. She had gotten it before their pizza had come and she was getting it now.

Her eyes looked past Max and she began to scan the crowded dining room. Abby knew she wasn't imagining it. Her instincts were burning and her dad had taught her to never ignore her instincts. They had yet to steer her wrong and she doubted that they would begin to do so tonight and right now, her instincts were telling her one thing.

Someone was watching her.

…

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Into the completed column, this one goes. Not a lot of Beth or Daryl in this chapter, but this was always more Abby's story anyway.**

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…

"You're ridiculously good at this," Max smiled at her as the machine spit out a long strand of tickets – so many, they were piling up on the floor. "Like, _unnaturally_ good." And he smiled when Abby practically beamed at him.

The arcade off to the side of Marco's was crowded, but after they ate and Max paid the bill, Max went to one of the change machines and changed a five dollar bill into a pile of gold arcade coins, they managed to get a ski-ball machine and had currently been there for almost an hour. There had been a moment when Abby had considered pretending she wasn't good at ski-ball so Max could appear to be the better one – something about fragile male egos and she had read in books of girls doing that for boys they liked – but at the last moment, she wasn't able to help herself. She loved ski-ball and she was good at ski-ball and she didn't want to lie.

With it so crowded in there that night, she had turned down her hearing aids. She normally would have shut them off completely, being surrounded by so many people and noises, but she was on a date and she wanted to be able to _hear_ him. And Max had seen her reach behind her ears and had now spent the past hour, standing close to her so she could hear him and she didn't hate that at all.

She leaned in close to him now to respond. "My dad goes to Savannah for his business often and we sometimes go with him. There's this arcade my brother and I always go to. I've been in training for years."

Max grinned at that and she smiled at him before turning her head away, noticing how close their faces were to one another. What she had told her mom was true. She wasn't ready to kiss him or be kissed. She could only hope that he wasn't expecting it. What would she do then if he did? She knew what her mom would say, but she couldn't possibly tell Max "no", could she? She was Feral Abby and he was… he was _Max_ and he was one of the most popular boys in their class and everyone already thought she was a freak. What if they found out that she didn't kiss Max?

"Are you okay?" Max then asked and she felt his hand hesitantly touch her elbow.

Abby did her best to give him a smile and she nodded her head before crouching down and ripped her tickets carefully from the machine.

Max gave a little smile as he looked at the amount of tickets in his hand – a paltry amount to the pile that Abby had to hold with both of her hands. "We have to find a game here that can show you I'm not a complete failure," he joked.

Abby's smile came easier now.

Together, they went up to the ticket counter to see how many they had gotten and to see what kind of prize they could get. Max admitted that he was extremely curious to see how many tickets Abby had. He had never seen anyone kick so much ass at ski-ball and he wanted to tell her that she was amazing, but he didn't know how to tell her that because her ski-ball skills wasn't the only reason shew as amazing.

The teenager working behind the counter took all of the tickets and fed them into a machine, the red automated number popping up. "903," the teenager said in a bored tone, looking back to them. "You can basically get anything."

"You pick. 900 of those were yours," Max grinned at her and she smiled.

Abby looked for several moments, taking her time as she studied everything. She then pointed to a white round unicorn stuffed animal with a rainbow horn and a matching rainbow tail. The teenager handed it to her and Abby took it with a smile.

"There are twenty left," she said to Max. "You have to pick something now."

"Can we take the twenty back?" He asked the worker, who counted out twenty and handed them back to him. "Alright," he smiled widely at her. "I know what to play."

He led her to a basketball hoop and fed the machine a coin. A buzzer went off and three small basketballs were dropped. A clock began counting down from ninety seconds and Max began taking his shots. Abby stood off to the side so not to get in his way and where she could watch perfectly and with all of the shots he took, he only missed one and the tickets were spitting out of the machine. When the ninety seconds were done, another buzzer went off and the machine went dark.

Max turned his head to look at her and Abby smiled brightly.

"Very impressive," she said with a nod and Max grinned before slipping another coin into the machine and the machine lit again and the three balls dropped again.

He played two more rounds and at the end, Max had his own pile of tickets and they returned to the counter to get them counted.

"462," the teenager told them after they were counted. "Anything from the third shelf down."

Max studied the selections and then looked to Abby, next to him, her arms around the unicorn, holding it to her chest. "What do you want?" He asked her and her eyes widened slightly as if she hadn't been expecting him to ask her that in a million years. He almost smiled, but he managed to stop himself before he could.

He had dated a couple of girls in their class – both of them cheerleaders because he was a football player and that was who he was expect to date – but they had both been the same. Both had seen too many movies and read those stupid magazines and they thought they knew _exactly_ how he should act because that was how Zac Efron or whoever the hell they had a crush on acted on dates in the movies.

But Abby wasn't like that. She was as far from any other girl in their class as she could get and that's why he liked her. She was shy, and despite all the bullshit she dealt with from classmates, she was still nice and she didn't make him feel an idiot and she was so genuinely surprised at so many things.

Like him asking her what she wanted with the tickets so he could give it to her.

And he wanted to tell her that he didn't share those tickets with the other girls, but he knew she didn't need nor probably want to hear that.

She looked closely and carefully over all of the suggestions and then pointed to a Nerf football and Max was honestly surprised. He expected her to pick another stuffed animal and she smiled at the worker as it was handed to her.

She shifted the unicorn to one arm and held the football in the other. "Something to remember tonight," she explained, her face exploding with a blush.

Max grinned. "You live on that huge property. Maybe I can come and we can throw it around," he suggested and though on the outside, he seemed completely relaxed, inside, he felt like a bowl of the pancake mix his mom put together on the weekends.

And Abby was still blushing, but she smiled faintly and nodded. "I'd like that a lot."

Max caught the clock on the wall and he sighed. "My mom's going to pick us up soon. We should wait for her outside."

Abby nodded in agreement. "I just have to go to the bathroom."

"Here," he said and without her asking him, too, he took the unicorn and football from her so he could hold it for her. She gave him a smile of thanks and he felt like he was honestly a little taller that _she_ would smile at _him_ like that. "I'll be right here," he then told her and Abby nodded before turning and heading off to the bathrooms.

In the bathroom, once she was finished, Abby stood at the sink, washing her hands and looking at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. She couldn't stop herself from smiling. This was the best night of her life. She was having such a good time and Max seemed to genuinely like her and it seemed like he was having fun, too.

He said that he could come to her house and show her how to throw the football. Did she count that as another date? Did he? Did he want to take her out on another date?

What would they be like in school on Monday? She wasn't his girlfriend. At least, she didn't think she was. She hadn't kissed him and she wasn't going to – at least not tonight. But girlfriends kissed their boyfriends and if she didn't kiss Max, then she couldn't be his girlfriend. But she didn't _want_ to kiss him. At least not yet. She didn't know how to kiss and tonight had been so much fun, she didn't want to ruin it.

Abby gave herself another smile. It was okay, she tried to reassure herself. She wouldn't think about that right now. Right now, she was going to go back out there – back to Max – and they would wait for his mom and she would ask him what his favorite movie was.

She dried her hands and with one more look at her reflection, smoothing her hands down the skirt of her dress, she left the bathroom and headed back into the arcade.

But Max wasn't alone anymore. She recognized a few boys and girls from their class – Max's friends – were with him now, laughing, and Abby's stomach instantly clenched. She couldn't hear them clearly from where she stood, but she knew perfectly well what they were laughing about.

Max was frowning at one of the boys – Ryan – and Ryan continued laughing.

"Jellyfish? Really?" Another of the boys, Will, asked Max with a frown of his own.

"Hope you got your rabies shot before taking her out," Ryan laughed. "You don't want Feral Abby to give you anything."

"Shut up, Ryan," Max said.

"Oh, this is so cute!" One of the girls, Rebecca, gasped as she took the unicorn from Max's arm before he could stop her.

And Abby knew it was just a stuffed unicorn, but she hated the sight of someone other than Max or herself holding it. Especially a popular girl like Rebecca. It tainted the unicorn somehow.

She couldn't help, but feel the familiar sting of tears. It wasn't as if Max was joining in with his friends teasing her. Actually, he looked pretty angry about it all, but Abby knew he shouldn't be expected to do anything. These were his friends and who was she? She was just Feral Abby. That's all she would ever be to these people and she couldn't expect Max to take her side over anyone else's.

With tears stinging in her eyes, and Max not seeing her, Abby began getting that feeling again that someone was watching her. This time, she was determined to find the person that was staring at her so intently and making the hairs on her arms stand up on end.

Her eyes swept over the bar area and there, sitting on one of the stools…

Uncle Merle.

Abby nearly sighed with relief. She didn't know why he was there. She didn't care. She rushed for him, not looking back over to Max and his friends. As she entered the crowded bar, she saw that Hunter was sitting on a stool next to Merle, but again, she didn't care even if both looked like deer caught in headlights. It was obvious that they had come to Marco's that night to spy on her and Max during their date, but thank Goodness they were here.

 _"_ _Please take me home,"_ she signed, not trusting her voice right. She felt like she was seconds away from crying and she didn't want to do that in front of Hunter because he had already punched Max. She didn't want him to do that again. This wasn't Max's fault, but she couldn't stay here and watch his friends laugh about her.

They were always laughing her and this night had been so perfect. She supposed she should have been expecting it. It was a small town and there was no school tomorrow so why hadn't she thought that some of their classmates would end up at the arcade attached to Marco's?

"Are you sure?" Hunter asked, sliding from his stool and standing up.

Abby nodded her head, not knowing if she could handle another second of being here. Merle watched her as he stood up, tossing a few bills onto the bar. He then put his arm around her shoulders.

"Let's get you home, Ms. Abby," he said and he guided her out of the restaurant.

She spotted Merle's familiar pickup truck and she broke away from him to run to it. Merle never locked it so she knew the door would be open and once she had climbed into the cab, she slid over to sit in the middle. Merle climbed in behind the steering wheel and Abby took off her shoes as he turned on the ignition.

Abby frowned, looking over her shoulder out the window. Where was Hunter?

But then she saw him coming out of the restaurant and walking towards the truck.

Once he got in on the other side of her and closed the door, Merle pulled out of the parking lot and started the drive back to the Dixon farmhouse.

 _"_ _You didn't punch him, did you?"_ Abby signed.

Hunter shook his head and Abby believed him though she didn't know if she could or not. She knew how Hunter felt about Max. And that was another thing. Max's friends teased her mercilessly and her brother always wanted to punch him in the face. She had read too many romance books if she thought that anything between her and Max would ever last past this one night.

When Merle pulled up the dirt drive, they saw the windows were warm with light. Abby didn't even wait for Hunter to open the door. As soon as Merle parked, she leaned over her brother, pushed open the door and crawling over him, she ran towards the house.

She heard the television on in the living room, but she didn't stop to look at her parents. Instead, still holding her shoes, she ran up the stairs, ignoring her mom calling her name out after her.

"What the hell happened?" Daryl asked as soon as Merle and Hunter came inside, his face already twisted in a frown and he wondered if he had to go beat on some kid for hurting his daughter. "What did he do?"

Hunter and Merle exchanged a look and Hunter looked back to Daryl.

"Actually, he didn't do anything."

…

Beth sat on the edge of Abby's bed and rubbed a hand in circles on her back as Abby laid on her stomach, hugging her pillow to her face. She hadn't said anything, but Beth didn't know if she was expecting her to or not. All Beth knew was that Abby had left a couple of hours before, so excited, and now, tears were streaming down her cheeks and seeing her cry, it made Beth want to cry, too.

"Oh, Abby," Beth said because she didn't know what else to say and Abby just shook her head and clenched her eyes shut.

Beth turned her head when she heard the floorboard in the hallway creak and then Daryl appeared in the doorway. He didn't pause as he came to the bed, crouching down next to it.

"Hunter let Max know that you were comin' home. Max said he's real sorry," Daryl told her and Abby nodded, still not speaking. "Those kids are idiots, Abby. You know that," he continued as he lifted a hand, joining it with Beth's on her back.

"What kids?" Beth asked.

"Some of Max's friends," Daryl answered, not looking away from Abby's face. "Was sayin' things 'bout Abby 'cause they're idiots and they have to talk even though they don't have anythin' to say."

Beth let out an angry breath. She was so _sick_ and completely fed up with Abby's classmates. Kids were vicious and they had to pick on someone and things had gotten so much better for Abby since Becks had moved into town and the girls because best friends, but the teasing still continued and at times like this, Beth was more than prepared to pull her out of that school and homeschool her herself.

"So, Max didn't do anything?" Beth asked Daryl.

Daryl shook his head. "Merle and Hunter said it looked like they were havin' a good time before his friends showed up."

"The best time," Abby whispered.

Beth leaned over and kissed Abby's head.

"You know what I think we all need?" Daryl asked. "We got vanilla ice cream. We got roo' beer. We need some roo' beer floats right about now. What do you girls say?"

With her nose still to Abby's head, Beth nodded. "Ice cream will help, Abby. It really will," she promised her.

And after a moment, Abby nodded, too.

Abby changed from her sweater and dress and got into her pajamas – a pair of boys' boxer shorts and a University of Georgia tee-shirt with the mascot Bulldog printed on the front. She then met everyone down in the kitchen as they stood at the island in the middle of the room. Beth was laughing as Merle kept scooping vanilla ice cream into his glass, leaving very little room for the root beer to be added and when Abby entered, Hunter saw her first and handed her the glass they had set aside for her. Merle handed her the tub with a grin and a wink and Abby finally found herself smiling.

But the doorbell rang then though and her smile faded and she completely froze.

"Don't be takin' all the roo' beer," Daryl said as he left the kitchen.

Abby stood there, trying to hear who it was, but it was impossible for her to and even with a part of her expecting it, when Daryl entered the kitchen again with Max, she still stared at him, completely taken aback with him being there.

"I brought you your things," Max said, looking at her, holding her unicorn in one arm and the football in his other hand.

"She totally kicked your ass at ski-ball," Hunter then laughed a little as he began constructing his own root beer float.

Max smiled at that, still looking at Abby. Abby looked at Max and didn't know what to say or what to do. She had left Marco's, completely convinced that the entire night had been ruined and they may have only been thirteen, but they had given it a shot, but it wasn't going to work out and that was that.

Except now, he was standing here, in her kitchen, and she felt something inside of her soar that very recently, had been dropped down to her feet.

"I invited Max in for roo' beer floats and a lil' bit of _Cupcake Wars_. His mom said she'll pick 'im back up in a lil' bit," Daryl explained to them all and his eyes settled on Abby, asking her silently if she was alright with that.

Abby didn't have to think about it. She smiled and she nodded and Max seemed to sigh with relief. Abby went to the cabinet to get him another glass and he was full-blown grinning at her when she returned, handing it to him. She felt her cheeks blush, but she smiled, too, as her stomach fluttered uncontrollably.

"And while we're doing that, you can tell me what you and your Uncle Merle were doing at Marco's tonight, Hunter," Beth said, looking at her son with a raised eyebrow.

"It was Uncle Merle's idea," Hunter immediately told and Daryl smirked at that, taking the ice cream scoop from Beth's hand, but only dropped a little into his glass before handing it to Abby and Max so they could help themselves.

"Good God, boy," Merle frowned at him. "Ain't I taught you nothin' 'bout snitches?"

Max listened to the warmth of the good-natured bickering breaking out around him and he then looked at Abby as she stood next to him. She caught his eye and they both shared a smile.

…

 **The End.**

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 **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked this little story!**


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